Slugs

[mags69]

Why are slugs so big this year - and how do you get rid of them. They've eaten every border plant I've put in this year

[WendyS]

Don't know the answer to that one but I get my revenge by putting them on the bird table !

[naz_nomad]

You've answered you own question ... they're so big because they've eaten all your bedding plants.

I have a fairly new garden and although we have a vast slug population I try to find plants that they don't particularly like...

Hardy geraniums (will flower twice if cut down after first flowers finish), loads of different shapes and colours of those.

Heathers, Lavenders, Astilbe, Crocosmia, Hebe, Clematis

I've gone more for shrubs and climbers, not bedding plants and my garden looks amazing (<---bighead) every year.

p.s. Don't plant Lupins ... like caviar to a slug.

[RATTER15]

Buy some slug pellets

[Kim A]

Or do as Mr A does on nightly basis, in the dark, and go slug hunting. You need a torch and a pair of sharp kitchen type scissors. You hunt the little bleeders down, chop them in half with your scissors and chuck them into the food digester bin where they decompose. After a couple of weeks, hey presto, no slugs. We have kept all our crops this year by using this slightly macabre method of control. As we garden organically, we don't like chemicals and we've tried every other method known to man, including beer traps, organic control substances, copper wire round pots, gritty mulches, orange peel, holly leaves, soot. The slug murdering method is by far the best, believe me!

[shaneystar2]

I pour salt on them and watch them shrivel and die !
I did buy some stuff this year which was quite a success for plants in tubs and pots which consists of crushed sea shells and copper tape around tubs is good too.Or Vaseline smeared around the rims ..they won't go over the grease.

[handygran]

I think slug pellets attract them more Ratters. Try a cup of beer set in the ground and they will go in get drunk and die.

[n00dles]

Please don't use slug pellets...

They in turn will kill off our thrushes and blackbirds, when eating the poisoned slugs...hedgehogs and frogs will also suffer...copper tape on pots and planters is very good, they have never crossed the "threshold" on my prize Hosta!

[trevHCS]

Beer is an excellent way to catch them, although try to use a shallow container otherwise you'll kill various other things which are more useful. Just don't play any loud music the next day as all the hedgehogs and birds will have major hangovers from eating drunken slugs!

Pellets are very bad as they kil hedgehogs, frogs, birds and even cats, or anything else in the food chain. And most slugs don't eat them.

[hitchawk]

If you dont fancy the idea of midnight forays into the garden ,create little dens for them.bits of roof slate,ect,on the ground in damp,shady areas,or under the cover of nearby plants.when the sun comes up,you can deal with em off at your leisure!